Author: David Shama

A supportive statement this month by Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow for coach Gary Williams may have temporarily sidelined speculation that the Gophers’ Tubby Smith might succeed Williams.  Yow didn’t, of course, refer to Smith or other coaches in her statement but did express optimism about the future of Maryland basketball where Williams, who won the 2002 national championship, has more than three years remaining on his contract.

Those concerned about Smith leaving Minnesota have been worried that he will go to Maryland even more than the other schools believed to have interest in him, including Arizona and Alabama.  Smith grew up in Maryland where his elderly parents still reside.

Home ties with family and memories, plus coaching the Terps in America’s premier basketball league, the Atlantic Coast Conference, with access to the talent load of prep players on the east coast could tempt many coaches.  Then, too, at least some of the Smith family living here doesn’t care for the cold winters and College Park might seem almost tropical compared to Minneapolis.

But hold on.  The opinion here is Smith isn’t leaving Minnesota anytime soon.  By all indications, he likes the people a lot including those he works for and with.  He’s also well paid with guaranteed compensation of $1,775,000, plus an incentive package that can put him over $2 million.

The richer among athletic departments could afford to pay Smith considerably more than he earns here and the Gophers are unlikely to enter a bidding war.  However, Smith earns big time compensation at Minnesota and with the imploding economy, including the impact on college athletic department budgets, even the wealthier programs could be more reluctant to spend exorbitant money on coaches’ salaries than in normal times.

Smith is a principled guy and he’s made a commitment to two recruiting classes since arriving at Minnesota.  A jump to someplace else so soon would leave a lot of disappointment among players and others.

The coach is excited about the future here with the talent he’s attracting and the program being built.  His first two recruiting classes have been ranked among the top 25 in the country.  His second season has been a success so far with a 19-5 record following last season’s 20-14.

While his family may not be crazy about the weather and had to learn about a new town and building relationships where there were none before, they’ve got to love the friendly reception Smith has received here.   At Kentucky Smith was a punching bag for disgruntled and wacky fans.  Here he’s revered, with even the student section waving their arms prior to games in mock worship.

There never will be the pressure and scrutiny with the Gophers that Smith faced at Kentucky.  Other big time programs like Arizona could include similar stress, much more so than Minneapolis where there are so many other college and pro sports teams to deflect attention from Gophers basketball.

Smith has a better opportunity to have successful teams in the Big Ten than the ACC where Duke and North Carolina rule year after year.  The ACC is crazy good while the Big Ten is so-so, with only one national power program, Michigan State. There’s plenty of room at the top.

So it makes a lot of sense to believe Smith will stay here.  And by the way, if he does leave, it doesn’t make much sense that former Gopher player and assistant coach Flip Saunders will succeed him.  Seems like if he really wanted to coach at his alma mater, he would have found his way to Dinkytown during the last 10 years when at least twice his name has been linked to the job.  Perhaps Saunders will end up coaching the Sacramento Kings where he would be back in the NBA commanding a salary more than double (at least) what the Gophers could pay and also bolstering his league pension.

At a Fort Myers town hall meeting featuring Barack Obama, Julio Osegueda made an impression not only on the President but also the promotions director of the Fort Myers Miracle, a minor league affiliate of the Twins.  According to the Twins Website, Osegueda told the President of his interest in broadcasting during the meeting earlier this week.  The promotions director has since offered the 19-year-old an opportunity to provide radio commentary during the Miracle’s April 10 game.

Tony Oliva was released from a Miami hospital on Wednesday and will stay in south Florida for a couple of days before going on a cruise with his wife Gordette, according to a Sports Headliners baseball source.  Oliva, who works for the Twins in baseball and public relations roles, had been hospitalized with a blood infection earlier in the week, per media reports.

The source also said the Twins were interested in relief pitcher Luis Ayala last season.  They finally acquired the 31-year-old right hander this winter from the New York Mets and he could be the eighth inning stopper the Twins have been seeking since last year when Pat Neshek was injured.

It will be interesting in April to read the Forbes.com annual values of major league baseball teams with the Twins now only one year out from moving into Target Field.  Of interest, too, will be how the sliding economy impacts valuations of all teams.

Despite the economy, plans are reportedly moving ahead for a privately funded football stadium in Industry City, California.  What if some day the stadium housed not one but two NFL teams in the highly populated Southern California market?  That would certainly make the stadium more economically viable.  Expansion franchise fees presumably will generate more in revenues for NFL owners than relocation fees for one or two existing clubs.  An expansion fee could reportedly be $1 billion or more.

Former Bloomington native Lane Kiffin, now head football coach at Tennessee, is featured in this week’s Sports Illustrated.  He’s described as a workaholic, non-stop coach who has recruited his staff of assistants with the same zeal he pursues players. Monte Kiffin, his father, is being paid $1.5 million to be the defensive coordinator and another assistant, Ed Orgeron, earns $650,000, according to the article.  Gophers head coach Tim Brewster.

Through games of last Sunday the Gophers ranked No. 2 in the country in blocks per game, 6.2, trailing Mississippi, 8.3.   Minnesota leads the Big Ten in blocks and has three of the top five shot blockers in the conference, Damian Johnson, Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson.

At mid-season Sports Illustrated picks O.J. Mayo as the NBA Rookie of the Year.  In its latest issue the magazine also chooses Kevin Garnett as Defensive Player of the Year.

Local sports fan Dennis McGrath described Wednesday night’s St. Thomas-Bethel game as “probably the most exciting basketball game I’ve ever seen.”  The Tommies, ranked No. 1 in the country, remained undefeated at 22-0 with a 75-72 win, rallying from a double digit deficit. Coach Steve Fritz’s team is 17-0 in the MIAC, while Bethel, Augsburg, Carleton, Gustavus and Saint John’s all have 11-6 records.

The Minnesota Minute Men have announced 10 candidates for the 25^th annual Mr. Hockey Award given to the outstanding senior high school hockey player in the state as selected by a panel of NHL scouts, Division I coaches and media.  The winner will be announced on March 15 at the Mr. Hockey Awards Banquet in St. Paul.  The candidates are Dan DeLisle (Totino-Grace), Marshall Everson (Edina), Ben Hanowski (Little Falls), Tyler Lapic (New Prague), Nick Leddy (Eden Prairie), Anders Lee (Edina), Danny Mattson (Academy of Holy Angels), Zach Palmquist (South St. Paul), Tyler Pitlick (Centennial) and Max Tardy (Duluth East).  Banquet ticket information is available by contacting Loren Feldkamp at (763) 422-9708 or mrhockeybanquet@aol.com.  Individual tickets for the event are $25.

The Wild has the opportunity to continue its success against Eastern Conference teams tomorrow night in a home game against Ottawa.  The Wild is 11-2-1 against the Eastern Conference this season while out scoring opponents 42-26. Ottawa defenseman Brian Lee is a native of Moorhead, Minn.  He has seven points in 27 games for the Senators.

The Gophers’ Jordan Schroeder is the top scorer among college freshmen hockey players at 1.25 points per game.  He and Dartmouth’s Doug Jones, 1.09, are the only freshmen averaging a point or more per game.  The Gophers (12-9-5) have lost four in a row for the first time since 2000 and play Alaska Anchorage (10-12-4) at home tonight and tomorrow night.